Investigating the risk of lightning’s pressure  blast wave

Ryan Blumenthal; Nicholas J. West

doi:10.17159/sajs.2015/20140187

Investigating the risk of lightning’s pressure blast wave

Authors

Ryan Blumenthal Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
Nicholas J. West School of Electrical and Information Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2015/20140187

Keywords:

lightning, flash moisture vaporisation theory, sixth mechanism theory, barotrauma, keraunomedicine, keraunopathology

Abstract

We investigated the pathology of human trauma associated with lightning’s pressure blast wave. Within what range is a human at risk and what are the risks? Two theories for the trauma currently exist: the flash moisture vaporisation theory and the sixth mechanism theory. We performed a simple proof-of-concept experiment in a high-voltage laboratory to determine which theory makes for better predictions. The experiment confirmed the existence of a non-discriminant pressure blast wave around a spark in air. The lightning data were compared with the known medical data. Findings may now help explain some of the more curious lightning injury patterns seen on lightning-strike victims.

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Published

2015-03-27

Issue

Vol. 111 No. 3/4 (2015)

Section

Research Article

License

All articles are published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

Copyright is retained by the authors. Readers are welcome to reproduce, share and adapt the content without permission provided the source is attributed.

Disclaimer: The publisher and editors accept no responsibility for statements made by the authors

How to Cite

Blumenthal, R., & West, N. J. (2015). Investigating the risk of lightning’s pressure blast wave. South African Journal of Science, 111(3/4), 1-5. https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2015/20140187